A visit to Another Place and Formby

Last weekend I thought it was about time to take the camera out and photograph some of the nearby coastline, so I decided to visit Crosby and Formby. Here are a few images shot early afternoon, which is not the best time of day for the light conditions but you can't always be there at the right time.

UK camera retailers

I don't know if anyone else has noticed that within the last few weeks, some UK camera equipment retailers have hiked up their prices by considerable amounts. In certain cases by as much as 45%. I fail to see how they can justify such massive increases. If you check sites in the USA and factor in the exchange rate, import duty etc, it still comes in well under the UK prices. I realise the UK pound is weak, making imports more expensive, the economy is not at its best and retail sales are depressed but 45%, they are having a laugh.
For instance. A few weeks ago a Canon 85mm f1.2L USM II was £1248 at one online store. The same item is now £1792, which is unbelievable!
You don't need to be a genius to predict what the impact would be if I suddenly increased my prices significantly.

Landscape photography sites

I came across a landscape photographer's site that is well worth a visit. Marc Adamus has some great images of North American locations.

Photography supplier exhibition

I have just received this years pass for the NEC focus-on-imaging exhibition that will be held on 22nd to 25 Feb in halls 9-10. Last year I attended on Sunday but I might consider a week day this time. However, one advantage of going on Sunday is the parking is free and likely the morning traffic is reduced. It's the nearest large photography event without having to travel to London.

Pennington Flash wildlife

I visited Pennington flash today, just off the East Lancs road near Leigh, to continue with the theme of wildlife photography. It was bitterly cold and virtually all the open water was frozen, so there was a distinct lack of water birds. The only location that provided any action was the bunting hide, which is also a feeder station. Although there were quite a few species feeding, it was late afternoon and the light was dismal.

Blue tit: 1/80s, f4.0, ISO 1250, 280mm (EF 70-200mm +1.4x) heavily cropped as it was too far away to fill the frame.

Robin: 1/125s, f4.0, ISO 1250, 280mm (EF 70-200mm +1.4x) heavily cropped.

The flashes will be worth re-visiting, especially in about 2 months time when spring has arrived and when the light is much better. If I continue to photograph small things from a distance, I will have to fork out for some new fixed focal length lenses. A 300mm f2.8L IS and a 600mm f4L IS would be nice. I'll just check under the mattress to see if I have a spare £8000!

Wildlife Photography

I was invited out on Saturday to do a bit of wildlife photography in Northumberland and along with a couple of experts, we headed down the coast from Bamburgh Castle to see what birds had flown in. As this was a first for me in this genre of photography, I did not have the right lenses for the distances we were shooting from and even my f2.8 70-200mm with a 1.4x converter was inadequate for the task. However, I captured a few wider views of some lapwing and golden plover whilst at a hide in Cresswell. A black-headed gull presented itself and I couldn’t resist the shot. It’s not exactly a rare bird but it filled the frame and I now have another photo to add to my stock library. If you want to see a proper UK wildlife photographers website, visit Andy Rouse's site.

Rub Al Khali

I was going through some old photos of Saudi and came across a few that I had taken using a Minolta Dimage 7 (5 Mp). Unfortunately, the originals were shot as jpegs, which limited the scope for editing but I have cleaned them up as far as possible without too much degradation.

The area of Saudi concerned is the Rub al Khali, otherwise known as the Empty Quarter, and all of the following images were shot on the way to a very isolated place called Sharurah (close to the Yemen border). A quick search on Google earth just shows how desolate the area is and where the boundaries for off road driving are dictated simply by how much fuel you can carry.

Believe it or not, this garage serves fuel and has a small shop!

The prevailing winds have a marked affect on the orientation of the dunes, the peaks (as above) stretch for miles in virtually straight lines and run parallel to each other. If you travelled along the dune line (NW) for about 700 miles, you might eventually reach Oman.

This area had a very different landscape hundreds of years ago and as a consequence, the entire region is littered with manmade flint objects, ranging from arrow heads to shaping tools. Wind and time have uncovered sites where these artefacts can be plucked from the surface of the sand, the above location being one of them.